Sensor and guide wire assemblies in which a sensor, adapted for measurements of physiological variables in a living body, such as blood pressure and temperature, is mounted at a distal portion of a guide wire are known.
For example, the U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,648 (which is assigned to the present assignee and incorporated herein by reference for the devices and techniques disclosed therein) discloses a sensor and guide wire assembly comprising a sensor element, an electronic unit, signal transmitting cables connecting the sensor element to the electronic unit, a flexible tube having the signal cables and the sensor element disposed therein, a solid metal wire, and a coil attached to the distal end of the solid wire. The sensor element comprises a pressure sensitive device, e.g. a membrane, with piezoresistive elements electrically connected in a Wheatstone bridge-type of circuit arrangement mounted thereon.
The sensor guide wire ends proximally in a male connector, which is adapted for insertion into a corresponding female connector, to therefrom transmit the sensor signals to an external monitor device. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,624 (which is assigned to the present assignee and incorporated herein by reference for the devices and techniques disclosed therein) an example of such a male connector is disclosed. This male connector comprises a core wire and conductive members spaced apart longitudinally along the core wire. Each conductive member is electrically connected to a signal cable, which is connected to the Wheatstone bridge circuit arranged at the sensor element in a distal portion of the sensor guide wire. The conductive members are electrically insulated from each other, and also from the core wire, by insulating material, which is disposed between the core wire and the conductive members as well as between the conductive members themselves, such that the insulating material has an outer surface which is coextensive with the outer surfaces of the conductive members, to facilitate both cleaning of the male connector and insertion of the male connector into an electrically and mechanically matching female connector.
Although not mandatory, the sensor guide wire is often maneuvered by the aid of a so-called torque device, which is movable along the sensor guide wire and which a doctor clamps around the guide wire at a proximal part thereof, to provide a good grip for the doctor as he or she is advancing the sensor guide wire through the cardiovascular system of a patient. Also an integrated portion of a female connector can be of a design similar to such a torque device; and the female connector can in this respect therefore be regarded as a torque device as it is capable of facilitating maneuvering of a sensor guide wire.
It can further be mentioned that corresponding torque devices also are used in connection with conventional (i.e. sensor-less) guide wires, but due to the delicate and sensitive design of a male connector, with its relatively thinner core wire and electrical connections between signal cables and conductive members, a sensor guide wire is particularly prone to damages during introduction of the male connector into the torque device, and the known torque devices are therefore not suitable for use together with a sensor guide wire.
Consequently, there is still a need for an improved torque device which obviates, or at least reduces, damage to a male connector, which is part of a sensor and guide wire assembly and which is introduced into or through the torque device.